The Conversion Bureau: Reality Break
by Fullmetalpirate
Summary: It's not real, it can't be real. Ponies are just cartoons and some fanfics on the internet. The wings, the hooves... I'm just having a bad dream!  I'm a pony now and I think the world is falling apart. I think we're in for a hell of a ride.
1. The Wall is Burning

I hate being sick. On the offset of a cold I always tell myself, "Whatever I can handle this, it's not that bad." Then my cold gets worse and I just want to crawl into my bed and sleep until the end of time. But I can't sleep cause I'm sick. So I just have to deal with it, I'm too sick to go to class and I'm too sick to sleep. Maybe I take some meds to knock myself out.

That's the state I found myself in currently. My trashcan was filled with a mountain of tissues and I'd imposed a self-quarantine on myself for the past few days. I'd go out and chat with my friends at dinner but that was about it as far as social interaction went. Other than that when I couldn't sleep I'd just surf the internet, watching funny videos and frequenting Equestria Daily to see if there was a good fanfic to read.

Yeah, I watched _Friendship is Magic,_ but then again so did all my friends. In fact, they'd been the ones to get me into it. Plus, it was a good way to kill time and let my brain shift to auto-pilot while I read whatever tale someone had put up about Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

A few days into my cold and I got a fever. I wasn't too concerned though, either because I thought I could take care of myself or my mind was too addled to make proper decisions. After hours of tossing and turning one night I finally managed to fall asleep.

I really shouldn't have fallen asleep. I always feel worse when I fall asleep sick. So when I woke up I knew I was in trouble. I felt hot, way too hot and my stomach seemed to agree with me as its contents wanted out. I rushed to my bathroom and barely made it to the toilet. My only solace in this was that hopefully throwing up would help me feel better.

After my visit to the toilet I decided it was time to get some medicated sleep. I stumbled over to where I kept my medical supplies, groped my hand around for what I assumed was the cold medicine bottle and measured out what I thought was the right amount. I downed the cup and didn't even bother putting the lid back on. "Ugh, I hate that stupid fake grape taste," I complained before I sprawled myself on my bed. I was out instantly.

(/)

_"Big sister, are you sure this was right?" _A voice called out somewhere.

_"What else can we do? We are running out of time, all of us,_" another voice responded_._

_"But will they make the right choice? Even if they do, can they live with it?"_

_ "You have seen the extent of their desires. All we can do now is wait and hope."_

_ "Hope? Why was that one of the ideals you didn't show to them?"_

_ "Because..."_

"_Who... who are you_?" I called out to the voices. I could only see darkness, but a vast presence was there. _The voices... where had I heard them before?_

_"Already? That was quite fast," _The second voice responded. As it spoke the darkness around its source began to fade, as if a sun were sprouting out of nothing.

"_Too fast,"_ the other voice cautioned. Its source still remained in darkness. Although, the darkness seemed to be turning a deep blue. "_Young one, did you truly understand the choice you made?"_

The voices, I now knew them... somewhat. I'd heard them on my computer and my tv, but now there was a certain air of falsity too them, like an actor doing an imitation. But that wasn't the point, those two voices could only belong to two beings. "_Wait are you Lu-"_

(/)

_Be-be-beep! Be-be-beep! Be-be-be- _I slammed on the alarm clock. "I swear one of these days I'm just gonna chuck that thing out the window." I was by definitely not a morning person.

I sank out of my bed. My legs felt wobbly but I didn't care. I had only one goal in mind. _Shower, showers make everything better_. Forget about caffeine or energy drinks, hot water was where the real wake up call was. I slumped a hand against the bathroom door and pulled it open. My hand felt weird too, but I just thought it was the cold making me feel weird.

I got into the shower stall and let the hot water flow. _Can I just stay here for the rest of the day? It'd make life so much easier_. I reached for the soap but it fell out of my hand. "Damn it," I reached my hand out again to grab for the soap that was right in front of my eyes. Only my hand was brown.

I think the hue of my hand should have only been a minor problem though, seeing as I wasn't even looking at a hand. _That's a wing._ What I thought had been my hand was instead a brown feathery wing. Apparently it was quite prehensile, as it could open a door and loosely grasp a bottle of soap. For a few long seconds, as the water continued to cascade down on me, I could only stare in delusion at the wing. Now, I'm not a big screamer, so luckily my panicked screams probably wouldn't wake up my roommates.

After a few more seconds of panic, I took some deep breaths and looked at the wing again. "Ok that's definitely a wing." I turned to look over to my right as I flexed what I thought was my right arm. Another wing greeted my sight. "Oh Jesus." I then noticed that everything seemed taller in the shower, or rather that I was shorter. "Dream, this has to be a dream," I repeated to myself as I rushed out of the shower to look in the mirror. Just when I thought my legs were clear of the little step between the shower and the floor, my foot caught the edge of it. Well, to be accurate, I'd cleared the step with my first two legs, the only ones I thought I had. It had been the additional pair of legs that had gotten tripped up.

My face promptly met the bathroom cabinet. "Oww!" I rubbed my face with the closest appendage at hand out of instinct. However, whatever was touching my face now was definitely not the wings my brain now equated to hands. It felt more like I was kinda moving my leg, but it felt much more flexible than a leg should have been (confusing but then again this whole situation was frying my brain). The thing cradling my head was rough and solid like a… "Oh no, no, no, no! I was not ready to go insane today!"

As the pain subsided, I opened my eyes and was met with a hoof, brown just like the wings had been. "Ok, just take some deep breaths. You're probably just running a really bad fever and you've been on Equestria Daily too much while you've been sick. Just get up look and mirror and snap yourself out of it."

I slowly got up, glad that whatever my legs had become still acted like legs when I tried to stand up. The only massive difference seemed to be that there were four of them rather than just two. That knowledge didn't help much when I looked in the mirror though.

_Green…why are my eyes are green?_ No, it wasn't the muzzle or the brown fur that covered my face and my body that shocked me; it was the fact that my eyes were a different color. Then again, if your eyes suddenly took up two-thirds of your face, they'd probably be the first things you'd noticed also. "Ok, brown coat, green eyes, wings…same hair." Whether wet or dry, I could definitely tell my hair was still my hair, my parents always did say I'd die with it. "Yep, I've definitely snapped. Always thought it'd be because of finals, not a damn head cold." The mirror reflected back a pony.

I flexed the wings again just to confirm my fears and sighed, "Ok, so I'm a pony, well as far as fever dreams go, I'd never thought I'd pull off this," The reflection's muzzle moved as I spoke. "Gotta say," I looked at myself in the mirror, fully embracing that I was having a delusional dream, "my dreams aren't usually this vivid, guess being sick helps my subconsci…" I stopped, remembering my earlier collision with the cabinet. "Oh crap, dreams aren't supposed to hurt."

_Panic! Panic! Reality isn't working! _Now while this could be regarded as the most awesome thing ever (I'm sure a few people online would enjoy this) I wasn't exactly ecstatic about being a pony. See, I love the normality of reality, the reassurance that the ground is solid, the sky is blue, the sun will rise and set, and that **ponies are just cartoons**. Now, this may sound boring to some people but consider this: what makes life life? It's that it's normal, it's controlled, and there are some perimeters it can't pass. Right now, I was breaking through those perimeters at mach infinity.

I scrambled for a lifeline, something that would tell me I was still in a dream. "Shaving cream!" I reached out for the canister by the sink and let it fall to the ground; my wing control wasn't on level with my hand-eye coordination. I then intently gazed at the writing around it. Not just the large brand name but the small print on the back also. "C'mon, if it's a dream I shouldn't be able to read it." I prayed as the words still came out clearly. It was just some company slogan promising a clean shave and how their product was the best. To me it was a death sentence, any second now I expected to the sky to start falling up and the world to sink into the abyss.

Then another desperate idea came to me. "I'm delusional… that's it, I'm just seeing myself as a pony because of the cold. I'll just go to health services and then I'll…" I stopped; realizing two scenarios could play out if I left my room. One: I'm still human and I'd probably be walking on all fours over to the health service building so even if I did recover I'd still look like a freak. Then there was scenario two: _What…what if I actually am a pony_?_ If someone sees me they'll freak, they'll call the news, then I'll probably be sent to some base to be studied until I die. Then they dis- NO! Oh dear lord no!_ I'd essentially trapped myself in my room.

"M-maybe this happened to everyone… maybe it's an epidemic." Somehow the idea of a mass pony plague actually seemed comforting next to the idea of being a lone pony in a human world. The thought concerned me. _Did… did I just think that?_ I looked down at the hooves again. "I-I'm not human anymore." I stood in the bathroom for a long time just looking in the mirror at the creature I now was. "No, I-I'm still me, I-I'm just sick that's all." _But I need to know._

I decided to check the news to see what was going on, but I nearly slipped just trying to get out of the bathroom. I grabbed for a towel with a wing to dry off but once again my grip was loose so the towel fell to the ground. "Err, it was bad enough dealing with my own delusions, can't daily life bother me some other time?" I complained to the unresponsive towel. I tried to pick it up again but it kept falling off my wing. "Damn it! How does anypony do this?" I shut my mouth after realizing what I'd said. _Anybody! Anybody! You're a human damn it!_ Ironically, I'd gotten so fed up with the situation that I just grabbed the towel in my teeth and threw it over my back.

But just as I did that I noticed something quite odd. My entire backside was a singular chocolate brown coat. "Huh, no cutie mark? Ugh, why can't my mind fill everything out?" _Great now I'm getting mad at my own mind, I'm getting counseling if the world doesn't end._ I used the wing to open the door, I could at least do that. But then I stopped again. _Oh crap! Rooma- oh wait he's gone_. I thanked whatever deities were listening for having sent my roommate to some frat house for the weekend. "Never thought I'd actually be happy with a fraternity."

But more important matters were at work. I rushed over to were the remote and TV and stumbled and banged into another cabinet. "Ok I get it!" I yelled to the empty room, "Not a dream, you've been very kind in reminding me!" I slouched up and tried to hit the power button, but the feather just brushed to the button's side. "Oh for…" I tried pushing the button with more force but each time I failed. I tried again with a more force but it caused the feather I'd come to associate with an index finger to bend oddly. I recoiled of the pain. It felt like I'd bent a finger the wrong way, it was a minor pain, but it still exasperated me further.

"Ugh! Screw this!" I inched the remote closer with my wing and proceeded to hit the power button with my tongue. The TV finally turned on. _Guh! This is probably so unsanitary, I'll probably get sick all o-_ I stopped and took a breath. My nose wasn't stuffy anymore and my throat felt perfectly normal… well as normal as a pony's throat would feel I guess. Before I had time to ponder my instantaneous recovery more I remembered the task at hand. Using my tongue again, I pressed two more buttons and the TV flicked over to one of the major news stations. _Come on mass panic, chaos in the streets, something outside of the normal_.

"… and here we can see the president clearly eating his pizza with a fork and knife. We must ask ourselves, how American is our president if he doesn't even know how to eat American food?" A droll news reporter droned.

"You've got to be *expletive* kidding me. People are turning into ponies and you're discussing eating habits?" A great fear was now growing in my mind: if this shtick was getting on the air that meant a slow news day, worse, it meant a normal news day. I sat through the BS opinion piece and waited for the next segment to start.

"Coming up we go live to the scene of a shocking event…"

"Ok, this has gotta be it, people waking up as ponies or something, c'mon!"

"…the wildfire in Utah, who's to blame? We'll go live right after the break."

I didn't even bother turning the TV off, I just slumped my head down. "Oh Jesus, it… it's just me." Seven billion people in the world and I felt incredibly alone. Actually, correction six point nine billion people and one pegasus. I was alone. "N-n-no, I-I'm just sick, this is just my mind playing tricks on me… I… I'll prove it!"

I stumbled over to the door but stopped, remembering my earlier thoughts. "I know, I'll call someone, yeah, I'll call them, tell them I'm really sick and need help. They'll see I'm clearly not right in the head and they'll dispel all this madness and get me to a hospital. Now who can I trust?" I searched my mind for a friend and decided almost instantly, "Mary."

Mary had been a good friend of mine since the start of school. We didn't share classes but we went to all the same clubs. Sucked that she had a boyfriend, but right now that really didn't matter. After a few more stumbles(it wasn't even that far from the door to where my phone was) I reached over and scooted my phone closer. I'd loved my iphone before, but now I was ready to smash it as I repeatedly tried to type my password in with my tongue.

After about five tries my tongue needed a break. Exasperated, I looked around the room again to make sure nothing was off. Everything still looked normal: bed, posters, everything. Then I saw my alarm clock… or what was left of it. Evidently, the hardness of hooves also came with increased leg strength, as the clock was now just a broken pile of wires and plastic. "Great I'll need to get a new clock too."

Then I saw an even worse sight: my glasses were still normal. Now I don't have the worst eyesight, but the world looks pretty fuzzy to me on the normal basis. I glanced up at my roommate's posters on the other side of the room just to confirm my worries. _Yep, still blurry, guess it's just a part of me_. Inwardly, I was somewhat happy, my senses were still pretty much the same. My body and how it moved may not have been human anymore, but at least I still **felt **human.

I tried a few more times on the phone and finally managed to unlock it. "Finally, guh, I'll be tasting plastic for a week." With improved tongue control, I managed to pull up Mary's number and put it on speakerphone. I hoped she didn't have an early class.

For a few anxious seconds I waited as the phone rang. Suddenly, there was a voice. "Hello," it murmured, it was the sound of someone who'd just woken up, "someone there?"

For a few more seconds I was silent but I reassured myself that Mary was friend and that she'd help. "M-mary, it's John."

"John? Why are you calling so early?"

"Look, I… I don't think I'm well… I think I might need to go to the hospital."

"Oh my gosh! Are you sure?" The voice was much more alert now. "You're not contagious are you?"

"I…" I awkwardly looked behind myself as I flapped my wings, "I don't think so."

"Ok I'll be right over."

"Thanks and please don't," the line cut off before I could finish, "freak out."

Alone in my room again I decided to try and get used to my body and avoid any more falls while I waited. Mary lived in different dorm so it'd take her a bit to get over to my room. I acted like I was moving my right arm and my right wing responded. But it wouldn't bend or move exactly like an arm. The more I flexed it, the more distraught I became. _It's not an arm, it's not even something a human would have._ Legally an adult and I felt like crying. I was a stranger in my own body.

Then there were my legs. When I'd gotten up, I'd moved them out of instinct, but now when I tried to move my legs only my forelegs responded. They were now starting to feel like a mix of an arm and a leg. I could bring them up to touch my face and even scratch the back om my head. But they were still touching the ground when I stood and that was what legs did, not arms.

The hindlegs were a much bigger issue. My conscious attempts to move them only resulted in me almost bucking my bed. I eventually just decided to walk with my eyes closed and just not think the additional pair of legs was there (not an easy task since they kept dragging on the carpet). But if I just imagined myself back in my normal body I was able to, after a few more stumbled, get the hang of walking, at least I was getting somewhere.

That was when I heard a knock at the door. "John? It's Mary, are you ok?"

"Be there in a minute," I shouted back before I quickly bit into my bed covers and draped them over my body. Then I went over to the door. "Ok I'm about to open the door… just promise me you won't flip."

"Ok… but what's going on?"

"That'll depend on what you see." I used a wing to pull the door open slightly then hid under my covers.

"John?" Mary called out as she entered my room, she didn't notice me or the covers I was under at first. Unfortunately, that meant she also stepped right where my tail was.

"Oww!" I cried out from under the sheets. It felt like the hair was being ripped from my… well, given my tail's location I'll leave the guesswork up to you.

"John? Why are you under your sheets?"

"First make sure that door is closed, I don't want anyone else to see this."

"Ok," There was a quizzical tone in her voice as she made sure the door was closed. "So what's the big deal? You actually sound better than you've been for the past few days."

"I know but… but I think something is messing with my head. I… I'm seeing things… I think. That's why I need you to check."

"How can I help with that?"

"Because," I started to shift out of the covers, "I need to know whether I'm going crazy or the world is." I completely slipped out of the covers and revealed myself fully to Mary. I even flexed my wings to make sure all my fears could be put to rest. Mary just stood there dumbfounded, slowly taking in what she was looking out, her mouth was gaping open in shock. "Well? What do you see?"

"John… you have wings."

"Oh shit."


	2. Then there were Two

You know what I like about the universe? It's big, unfathomably big. Think about it this way: our **entire galaxy** is but a speck of dust in the majesty that is universe. An individual in the universe is such an insignificant part of it that their entire existence wouldn't even be the tiniest blip in the cosmos.

But I like being infinitesimally small. Why? It puts everything in perspective. Yeah, I had problems, everyone has problems. I was a bit socially awkward, I spent way too much time online; stuff like that. But in the grand scale of things those problems were nothing.

I really wish I could say the same about my current situation. I was a pony. No, I was a cartoon given form in reality. I had wings, wings that must have defied every law of physics known to man. Before today, I thought reality was solid, now I was a wrecking hammer to the concrete of reality. I was scared out of my mind.

"John, how did this happen?" Mary continued to look over my equine form, amazement on her face.

"I-I don't know!" I screamed. "But it's wrong, very very wrong!"

"But this is what fans dream about all the time. You even got wings, you can fly now!"

The thought of spitting in Newton's face terrified me even more. I quickly tucked the wings back to my sides. "T-that's the p-point!" I couldn't speak clearly, fear was running through my veins. "T-that's all they are... a-all they were: dreams!"

Mary now saw how scared I was. "Ok John, just take some deep breaths, I'm sure this will all work out."

"Work out? Work out?" Mary! I'm a f*^king horse! A talking flying horse. I'm a violation of everything that should be possible!" My eyes wildly darted around the room. I expected the apocalypse any second. I desperately wanted a Bible, a Torah, something holy. I'm not even that religious, I just wanted something to take solace in.

"Ok John, let's just go through everything. Did anything happen last night that might have caused this?"

"Aside from reality crumbling? No. I was just sick like I had been. I threw up a little sometime in the middle of the night. Then I chugged some medicine and pa-" I stopped. The medicine helped people with colds sleep, but it took a bit of time to take effect. No off-the-shelf medicine could have knocked me out that fast. Then I remembered the artificial grape taste of the medicine. "Oh my god!" I darted over to my medical supplies.

"What is it?" Mary said with concern.

"Reality becoming fiction, that's what!" I scanned the supplies and then my eyes fell on an empty cup and an open bottle. It looked just like a standard bottle of cold medicine. Only there were no labels on the bottle. I noticed there was a small dribble of purple liquid near the top of the bottle. It shimmered with an unnatural glow.

Then I saw the letter next to the bottle. No, it was more of a scroll, a familiar looking scroll. I scooted it closer with a wing, careful not to spill whatever was in the bottle. Once it was close, I tried uncurling it, but I couldn't manage it with my wings or my mouth. "Mary, I need some help, uncurl this for me."

"Right," she walked over grabbed the scroll and easily uncurled it. I desperately missed my hands. "Do you want me to read it?"

"No, I'll read it, I can at least do that much... can you just hold it open?" _Can't even read a letter without assitance, super._ I began to read the letter:

**Young One,**

**You have been selected to start the conversion process. We know this may be sudden to you, but time is of the essence. However, the choice is still yours as to whether you cast off your humanity or endure it. But know that both Equestria and Earth rest on your decision. So we ask you, whether you drink or not, to spread our word and reignite magic. There should be enough for four more converts. Please find the other seeds as soon as possible. We will try to contact you again soon.**

**By Royal Decree of Princess Celestia, Monarch of Equestria**

I looked at the letter for a very long time. Somehow, it was the thing that was most wrong with my room. I could read it clearly, but it had to have been something pulled out of a dream. There was no way it actually existed. Then again, I was now a pegasus, so my judgement call on what was real and what was fiction was shaky at best.

Then I remembered my dream. Only it hadn't been a dream at all, it'd been a vision. My one chance to talk with the rulers of Equestria and my damn alarm clock had ruined it. If I hadn't already broken it, I'd stomp it repeatedly with my hooves. _Crap, crap crap! Now where do I get he- _there was one place I could go. There were people who had experienced this before, well not _experienced_ being turned into a pony, but they'd written about it at least.

"So what's it say John?" Mary seemed very anxious to look at the letter.

"Mary, it just got real." My own words felt disbelieving. I was getting a little afraid to fall asleep again. Things might be normal in my dreams from now on. "Do you read Pony fics?"

"Not really, I think Nate or Sean are more into fics. I mean, remember that time Sean wrote that horrible clo-"

"Mary! Focus!" I thanked god that my brain had still been rational enough to have not called either one of them. Sean and Nate had gotten me into MLP and they made my fandom for the show look minuscule. If they saw me now... I think the whole campus- no, the whole city would know I was a pony by noon. Mary wasn't even that big a fan and she was ecstatic about my transformation. _Couldn't she see how dire the situation was?_ "Listen to me carefully, I need you to get on my computer and contact some people." I trotted over towards my computer.

"Oh! Is this some world-wide thing?" She'd skimmed the letter while I was trying to walk. She was eagerly eyeing the bottle as well.

"Mary! You drink that and I'll buck you in the face!" I'd said another ponyism. I felt lightheaded for a second. "Please come over here." I stomped a hoof by my desk. "I'll give you instructions... then you can have whatever you want." The letter's words were scrawled across my brain as I thought about the words._ Make more converts._ That was the order I'd been given by an entity I thought was just a cartoon until now. But Celestia was real, Equestria was real. I didn't want to condemn anyone else to the situation I was currently in, but somewhere deep in my heart, a voice cried out telling me conversion was right.

"Ok, what's your password?" Mary was sitting next to me in my chair. I'd probably never fit in it given my current form. I gave her the password; what use was it if I couldn't even type anymore? My computer might as well have been a slab of metal, hooves were useless on a keyboard.

"Open up my internet browser and click the bookmark farthest to the right." She followed my instructions as I spoke. The page in front of her was a link to various IRC channels. I only needed one. I prayed someone was on. "Now in that top space scroll down until you reach a server called 'geekshed' then for the 'name' space fill it in with 'FMP' and for the channel fill it with '#TCB.'" _Please someone be on._

The screen shifted and now it had a chatroom format. I scanned the right side of the screen, looking to see if anyone was on that the time. I cursed that Chatoyance never came to IRC, she could have probably been the most help dealing with something like this. But I wasn't completely out of luck. Midnight and Krass were on and having some bizarre debate about cherry potion. I shivered at the thought of that nightmare occurring. Being turned into a pony had been terrifying enough, losing my masculinity would have been even worse. My arrival into the chat room hadn't gone unnoticed.

Krass: sup newfoal

Midnight: who is this?

Krass: new guy he seems to like Chat's stuff

Midnight: oh hello what's going on?

"Mary type exactly what I tell you."

FMP: Situation is bad. Potion is real need help.

Midnight: What?

Krass: You been smokin?

FMP: Accidentally drank potion last night. Woke up as pony. Having friend type for me.

Midnight: oh boy this should be interesting

Krass: Bullshit, pics or it didn't happen

"Mary, open up a new tab and my photo application."

"Are you sure that's..."

"Do it! This may be the only lifeline I've got." The application was in the foreground while the new blank page sat in the background. "Now take a picture of me and then go to ponychan's /fic/ board and go to a thread called 'The Conversion Bureau: Tasty Tasty Grass Edition' and post the picture there."

With a few clicks, the deed was done. My face... my muzzle was online and anyone could see it. Seeing it on a computer screen just solidified reality for me: computers didn't make mistakes the way humans did. Unless there was a glitch, it had taken a perfect picture of a brown pegasus. "Now go back to chat room."

Midnight: did he leave?

FMP: check out the ponychan thread.

Krass: this should be funny

For a few minutes the screen was still. I gazed intently at it awaiting a response. It came after about five minutes.

Midnight: is it shopped?

Krass: checked, I couldn't find any editing

FMP: I'm telling the truth.

Krass: Holy shit

FMP: I need help. There's still potion and a letter and I don't know what to do.

The text couldn't convey the desperation in my voice.

Midnight: Letter?

FMP: from the sun princess herself. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't have my friend to verify it.

Midnight: Jesus

Krass: What does it say?

Mary typed up the exact words of the letter.

Krass: Did I take something? I must have taken something to be seeing this.

Midnight: not unless I took the same thing. my god, this is heavy

FMP: What should I do?

There was another long period of stillness.

Krass: Start the bureaus. This is so insane but cool. So is like Celestia sending potion to everyone... no everypony?

Krass is insane. I don't care if it's text or not. No one throws away humanity that quickly. I've made a mistake talking to him.

Midnight: Krass, cool it. This is pretty freaky. You're sounding like someone from the PER

FMP: I'm scared

Cloudhammer: Hey what's going on here?

Another frequenter of the TCB chat room, Cloudhammer was usually the one most likely to be online when I usually was.

Midnight: Shit just got real

Cloudhammer: What's going on?

Krass: FMP was a lucky bastard and got the potion

Cloudhammer: What?

Midnight: He's a pony now

Cloudhammer: for real?

Krass: check the thread on ponychan. You'll shit bricks!

For a minute there is now movement on the board. Then Krass spoke up again.

Krass: So... have you tried out the wings yet?

FMP: No. I'm terrified to even leave my room. What if the government sees me? They'll find me and then they'll interrogate me and then they'll experiment on me.

I was crying by the end of the tangent. Mary was lightly petting my head. "John, it'll be ok. We'll keep you safe."

Midnight: that sounds pretty rough.

Cloudhammer: I'm back... holy crap FMP, what's going on?

FMP: I don't know, I had a dream with the Princesses but my clock woke me up.

Midnight: Shoot

Cloudhammer: Damn this sucks, if potion is real that can't be a good sign

FMP: what should I do?

Krass: convert your friends? you have to start somewhere.

Midnight: also these "seeds" in the letter. perhaps there are others like you?

There were others... I could make others. The righteous feeling in my heart grew. _I'm not alone. I'm not the only pony!_ A mad sense of relief and determination was seizing my mind now.

FMP: keep this as far under the radar as you can for now. We can't start a panic because of this. Only tell other TCB writers, they might be able to offer advice.

Midnight: what are you going to do?

FMP: what Celestia commanded

Krass: heh, so did it really taste like artificial grape?

FMP: the worst. Midnight, thank everything holy it wasn't cherry

Midnight: Oh... oh wow. Yeah definitely.

FMP: I'll try to keep in touch, don't be surprised if the news starts going crazy in a few days. If there are others, I bet a commotion will be started somewhere. We're like a stack of dominos, just waiting for one of us to fall and send the whole set up crashing.

Krass: save some potion for me!

Midnight: Me too!

Cloudhammer: If it's the end of days I'm up for some as well.

FMP: RL friends are the immediate issue. Must go now, there is work to be done.

"You can close the window now." Mary did as I asked and then looked anxiously at me.

"So can I have the drink now?"

"In a second." My mind was swimming with ideas. I had essentially been given the liquid death of humanity, or at least the human body. I looked back and forth between her and the bottle. "We need to get someplace more secure first."

"Where?"

I scanned my mind for a place, then I realized there was a place right down the hall where we could be safe for a while. "Mary, I need to you to got get Sybil, her room should be more secure than mine."

"That's right, she does have a single after all... why didn't you call her first anyway? I mean she's right down the hall."

"There's a reason we call the the 'pinkie pie' of our group. Given how you've been acting, she'd probably be screaming like a deranged fangirl at this." I flapped my wings again.

"Sorry, it's just that this is so cool. I mean ponies are real and we can become them. It's so awesome. Wonder if I'll be a pegasus or a unicorn? Earth pony is cool as well."

I facehoofed. _Couldn't she see how insane this all was?_ I could understand conversion a little now, but there had to be regret for lost humanity somewhere in there. "Tell that to me when you can't even walk right and you don't have hands. Can you please just go get Sybil? Oh and if she screams, close her mouth." I needed to at least have some control of the situation. Control made me feel a little better.

"Ok, I'll be right back," she said as she moved over to the door and left me alone in the room. I braced myself for the storm. _I am so screwed._ I'd given up trying to sort out reality and fiction, all I could do was pray things would work out.

There was an ecstatic knocking at my door. I didn't bother draping my covers over me this time. I didn't want my tail to get stepped on again. The instant I opened the door, Sybil was in my face. "John, oh my god! This is so cool! I mean holy crap! Can...can I touch your wings?"

"Jesus, I knew this would happen. First, please calm down. You want me to be on the news tonight? Second, you can touch them if you help me."

"Ok, ok," she said in a whisper that was still filled with energy. "What do you need?"

"I need you to get me and the potion to your room."

"Potion?"

"The stuff that did this to me."

"Mary! You didn't tell me there was stuff that could do this to us!" Now Sybil seemed like she was about to bounce off the walls. She excitedly turned back to me, "Can I have some?"

"Both of you!" I yelled and then checked my voice. "Listen to me. That," I pointed a hoof at the bottle, I nearly lost my balance doing so, "is the largest powder keg in human history. We need to handle this calmly and as rational people."

"Ponies," Sybil chimed in. I swiftly kicked her in the shin. I was getting tired of their fantasy antics.

"That is the major issue: we are human, **I** am a human. Don't you two comprehend how terrifying this is?" I stomped a hoof to the ground.

"Well I mean life does kinda suck," Sybil seemed much more serious now. "I'll have student loans to deal with, finding a job after college."

"Dealing with drunk roommates," Mary voiced her complaints as well. "Grades."

"I can't believe it, those are your complaints?" I was completely flabbergasted. Maybe it was because I considered life good. I came from a rich family, had good friends, and went to a good school. Did I have bad days, yes: a D on a test there, an asshole here. But I could have never said life sucked. But now it was gone. "For god's sake, this isn't some fun game! I'm stuck like this now!" I was beginning to cry again. "Is that really what you want?"

"John, remember what the letter said?" Mary was petting me again as she tried to comfort me. "I think this might be bigger than all of us. I mean if ponies exist why haven't they contacted us until now?"

"I don't know!" I sobbed.

"Well, it sounds like they need our help and you saw what the guys online said. I know this wasn't fair to you but... we'll help you through it."

"She's got that right," said Sybil, "the show did have friendship in the title after all."

_Friends_. That was right: neither Mary nor Sybil had run at the sight of me. They'd actually wanted to join me. Their eagerness to convert still confused me, but at least they were willing to stand by my side. "Ok," I sniffled, "let's get to Sybil's room and then we can plan out from there. Mary, get my keys, we'll need to take two trips."

Mary walked back over to my desk and grabbed the lanyard that held my keys. "Got 'em."

"Ok," I bit my sheets again and draped them over my body.

"Um, John," Sybil was probably giving me a quizzical look, "what are you doing?"

"Not causing a panic. Here's what I need you two to do."

(/)

I couldn't see the hallway but the trip to Sybil's room still felt like an eternity. I was bundled up in my covers along with a ton of my other clothes. I couldn't wear them any more, but at least they seemed to be working as a camouflage. I prayed two girls taking a bunch of laundry to their room didn't look suspicious.

I heard Sybil's key unlock the door and then we were in the safe zone. They set me down on the floor and I squirmed out of my disguise. It took much more work as a pony to get out of tightly wrapped covers. I felt of few of my feathers bend oddly, but again, it was a minor pain that quickly faded.

The bigger issue was that the window-shades were open. Seriously, it looked like someone had cranked the world's flare meter up to eleven. "Gah!" I put up my wings to cover my face.

"What's wrong?" Both girls said in unison.

"Do you not see the supernova going on outside?" I'd pulled the cover back over my head. "Oh crap, is it Celestia? She's not outside is she?" The vision of Celestia coming down in a messianic fashion popped into my mind. _At least that'd get the panic out of the way._

"John, what are you talking about? It's not even that bright out today, might even rain a little."

"Fine, fine! Just please shut the blinds!" Even under the covers with my eyes closed, I could still see the world ablaze outside. Then it was normal again. I tentatively stuck my head outside of the covers. I could still see the traces of the insane sunlight from behind the shades. "Ok, neither of you saw that?" They both shook their heads. "You didn't see the world's brightness get turned up to maximum? Arg! What is going on?" I was still seeing spots from the partial blinding.

"Maybe...maybe it's just how you see things now?" Mary posited. I was scared again. I'd thought my senses had remained the same. They had... just in artificial environments.

"Oh god, I-I can't eat anything."

"What?" Sybil asked.

"My senses, they're not mine... n-not human anymore," I quivered.

"So you've got like super pony senses now?"

"I...I don't know. But a cloudy day is now the sun staring me in the face! I can't go outside, my brain will burst!" Of course the worst possible thing happened after I said that. My stomach grumbled loudly. By now, I'd usually be sipping a tea and eating a muffin for breakfast. Evidently, my senses had changed, but my stomach's tendencies had remained. "Crap!"

"Um," Mary looked around awkwardly, "do you need some food?"

"I don't know! Anything I eat now might cause my tongue to explode!"

"I've got some Campbell's." Sybil waked over to where she kept her food and picked up an instant-can of chicken soup.

"That stuff's probably poison to me now." _Great, I'm gonna die of starvation now_. My stomach grumbled again, but as it did a something flashed in my mind... something tasty. "Apples."

"What?" Sybil was giving me the quizzical look again.

"I don't know, but apples sound really good right now." My mind was flooding with all sort of apple dishes: the apple danishes at the library's coffee shop, the pie they sometimes served in the cafeteria, apple sauce on a potato pancake.

"Um, John?" Mary snapped me out of my fantasy, "You've, uh, got a little something on your uh..." she turned to Sybil, "what would you call it?"

"Muzzle," Sybil replied.

Apparently, I'd been drooling while my fantasy was going on. I quickly wiped it away with a hoof. Then I shivered a little at what I'd done: I liked food, but I never got that excited about it. It wasn't who I was. "Please... just...just go get some apples... and the potion."

"Right," Mary left the room. I was alone with Sybil now. _What was the name of that movie where Kathy Bates was a crazy fangirl?_

"So what's the deal with this potion anyway? You just take it and bam! You're a pony?"

"I don't know, I thought it was just fiction until today, I thought everything was fiction until today."

"So where's it come from, was it from a fanfic or something?"

"A collection. This thing called _The Conversion Bureau_."

"Uh-huh, so what? Did people just find a way to turn other people into ponies and then go on adventures?"

"Kind of, TCB's world was usually a real hole, it makes Africa look utopian in comparison. Then one day, ponies just showed up and helped people make the potion."

"So is that what's happening now?"

"I don't know! Guh! If only my stupid alarm clock hadn't gone off."

"What'd your alarm clock have to do with anything?"

"Some things are different about the potion, but the dream was still the same."

"Dream?"

"In the fics, when someone drinks the potion they pass out while the transformation happens. Then they have a dream, only it's not a dream... it's kinda like a chat room... only you're talking with royalty."

"Royalty?" Sybil looked confused again. But then her confusion turned to excitement. "You mean Celestia? You actually got to talk to her?"

"And Luna."

"That is so awesome!"

"Tch, I wish, all I got was who they were and pretty much what the letter said." _All the answers and a damn piece of plastic ruins it._

"Oh darn, that does suck." For a moment she was quiet. "So did it hurt?"

"What?"

"Becoming a pony, duh!" She was eager to hear my response.

"I don't know if it hurts, I was sick as hell last night, I couldn't tell up from down... I still don't think I can. But after I drank it, I don't remember anything else but the dream."

"Wonder if I'll get to see them." I still couldn't understand how they could want this so much. Don't get me wrong, there'd been times when I'd thought it would be cool to be a pony, heck, pegasi seemed pretty awesome. Maybe that was why I was one why now. Now I wished I'd liked unicorns more: at least they could still manipulate stuff with magic.

There was that word again: _magic_. It goes against every scientific thing out there. I'm not a big science person, but before today I'd thought there was a logical explanation for everything. That was why I thought (and am still thinking) that the world was gonna end soon. When magic becomes real it means order is falling apart: the possible has lost its footing so the impossible must now prevail in reality.

But before I could dwell more on the subject there was a knock at the door. Mary was back. In one hand she held the potion and in her other hand was a bag. The smell from it, my god, I'd thought she'd brought fragrance or something into the room. My mouth started salivating again. "Ok, I got everything so what's the plan?"

"Can...can I have that first? It's really distracting." I was eyeing the bag like I hadn't seen food in a year.

"Yeah, sure," Mary pulled out not one, not two, but three apples! They were just the standard apples that the snack bar always sold. As soon as she placed them down I was on them. But I stopped myself from swallowing the first one whole. Instead I just took a small bite. It was actually pretty easy to eat it, even without hands.

… Um, how do I put this? Ok, Rainbow Dash's reaction to Cider in that one episode, remember that? She was not kidding. I'm dead serious. I would have called bullshit on Mary if I wasn't enjoying the damned thing so much. _There's no way this is from the snack bar, everything there is crap! She'd had to have driven to the nice market or... oh my god it's so juicy!_ I didn't even notice the girls giving me odd looks. For the moment I didn't care. Remember how I said I liked food? Yeah I loved getting good food, especially after days of the same mundane cafeteria food. But this? This was a whole new level. No restaurants, not even my favorite ones, made something this good, and it was an apple, a damn apple!

I quickly finished the first one. I ate the whole thing: stem, core, everything. I didn't even think about it until after I'd done it. _I wonder if ponies can digest apple cor-_ I stopped and looked up at the girls. They both had faces that I couldn't exactly read. "What did I do?"

"Um, well John..." Mary was blushing a little.

"You foodgasmed... hard," Sybil said bluntly.

"I what?" I blushed profusely and my ears drooped.

"Seriously, it was like you were eating pure ecstasy or something. You didn't notice?"

"No... it... it was just really good."

Mary and Sybil looked and me and then at each other. They each grabbed one of the remaining apple and were about to put them in their mouths when I screamed, "No! Ok, you can have a bite, but please leave the rest for me!" I brought my forehooves to my mouth after saying that.

"Ok," Sybil was holding the apple as she spoke, "if that's not an argument for taking that stuff, I don't know what is."

"No," I replied.

"She has a point John," Mary said, "nobody enjoys apples that much, hell, nobody enjoys eating food that much."

"No," I repeated, "No, no, no! That... that's not me! I... oh god." I sprinted over Sybil's bathroom. No matter how delicious the apple was, it wasn't staying down.

Mary and Sybil rushed in as soon as they heard me hurling. "John? John what's wrong?" I couldn't tell whose voice it was.

"Everything!" I cried out between throwing up. "I... I don't even feel things as a human anymore... it's gone all gone! Ugh!" I was just having dry heaves now, my stomach had nothing left to throw up.

"John it... it'll be ok." It was Sybil's voice.

"It won't! I've lost everything!" I sobbed over the toilet. "T-that's not even the worst part! It's that it's so much better. I-I can never go back to normal again. I...I'll know this exists. Oh god, help me!" I slumped in front of the toilet and balled like a baby. Sybil hugged me, I tearfully looked up at her. "I-I'm scared."

"John... I know. I'm sorry about before...I was stupid. I just thought this was so neat. But I didn't think about it that way. That it's not just different, that you've lost so much."

"T-thank you, Sybil. I...I'm sorry, I just don't know what to do."

"Well why don't we just sit down and talk, relax and try to sort things out."

"T-that sounds good but where's... Oh Jesus! Mary! Mary!" I bolted past Sybil and back into her room. Mary was passed out on the floor, an empty cup in her hand. "No! **NOOO!**" I screamed and dry heaved again as Mary's body started to ripple and turn chalk white. Sybil isn't so lucky when she walked in the room. She puked right on bathroom tiles, at least it wasn't the carpet.

"Oh god, John!" She averted her eyes, "That's what happened to you? I..." She ran to the toilet. I shut my eyes and prayed for the nightmare to be over.

Ten minutes passed and the only sounds in the room were Mary's clothes tearing and Sybil retching. Eventually Sybil turned her head to me and asked, "Is...is it over John?"

I turned my head slowly. Mary was lying there now, whatever clothes she had were now just torn pieces of cloth. I was somewhat relieved, she was almost done with the process. Right now she kinda looked like a base model for a pony: no hair, no color. Then I saw her body start to shift colors. It became a deeper shade of white and then a light creamy yellow. It darkened some more and then stayed a dark pastel yellow. Then her hair and tail grew out. They're a light blue color, she kinda looked like the Ukrainian flag.

For a second I thought she was done. Then I saw these little nubs grow at her sides. They kept expanding. At first, they're thin and bony, but then they drooped down and became filled with flesh and…feathers. She's a pegasus as well. I looked at her wings and then I looked back at mine. They're both about the same size. "Sybil, I think it's safe." I looked back over at Mary, she appeared to just be sleeping now.

"John, I... I don't want to do this anymore. The way your body shift and squirms... it's not right." She covered her mouth as she cried.

"I know, I know." I looked back over at Mary again, she appeared to be mumbling something. "Jesus! The dream!"

"W-what?" Sybil cried.

"The dream," I said in an excited voice but then I tuned it down to a whisper, "she's having it right now. We can't let anything interrupt her. She's our lifeline now."

So we sat there for a while, just watching Mary dream. I still couldn't believe what I'd just seen. Humanity out the window with just a simple drink. The bottle scared me now.

"Hey John?" Sybil timidly asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you call Mary instead of me or Jane, we both live right down the hall." Jane lived directly across the hallway from Sybil. She'd probably be joining this commotion sooner or later... everyone would.

"I thought that if I called you, you'd flip and start running around campus. Then Sean would hear about it and he'd start running around campus too. By the end of the hour, the news would be here and there'd be pandemonium. Then the black suits would come and... I don't want to talk about it." I was shaking again.

"What about Jane?"

"Her heart couldn't have taken it, plus she has the flu." I didn't know the exact medical terms, but Jane had some minor heart condition. She always complained about not being able to drink soda. "You really want to show a sick person this?" I flared my left wing up. If she'd seen me, soda would have been the least of her worries.

"You liked Mary didn't you?"

"What? No! I..." I was blushing now, "you know she has a boyfriend."

"**Had**, I don't think things will work out the well now."

"Heh," it's an empty laugh, "she'd choose being a pony over her boyfriend?"

"I think she chose it to help you."

"I..." before I could say anything else, Mary murmured a little louder and flapped her wings for the first time. "I think she's coming out of it." We both get closer to her, but still keep some distance.

"Mrphl," Mary murmured.

I couldn't take the tension anymore. "Mary?" I asked in the most quite voice I could.

"Jphl...jopl...John?" Her eyes started to twitch as she tried opening them for the first time.

"I'm here Mary."

"John!" her eyes opened wide as she pounced on me. Her eyes were still the same blue color they were before. "John, holy crap, I saw them! It was so amazing! You wouldn't believe it if you hadn't seen it yourself."

"Mary," I said in a gruff tone, "you're crushing me." Doesn't matter what you are, if you stand on my chest it's gonna feel like you're crushing me.

"Oh sorry, sorry! Guess I just got a little excited." She got off and immediately stumbled and fell to the ground. "Wow, you weren't kidding, this is hard." She looked over at her right forehoof tried to flex it, but instead she caused her right wing to poke out of her side. "Whoa!" She looked at it in amazement. "Heh, guess we'll be learning flying together."

"Another time. Right now, can you please tell us what happened in your dream?"

"Oh yeah... um, John, it's pretty serious. I mean holy crap, you thought today was strange so far? I don't think you were too off about reality falling apart. There's just one thing."

"What?"

"Can I please have those apples?" She was drooling as she looked at the two red spheres she and Sybil dropped earlier.

"Take 'em!" Sybil and I both said in unison, neither of us wanted to eat after what we'd just seen.

Mary stumbled over to the apples and awkwardly sat down, trying to figure out what position worked best for her new body. "Ok so here's the deal," she said as she bent down and took a bite out of the apple. "See Celest... oh my god! It ahhh, just ahhh!"

I turned over to Sybil. "Yeah, foodgasm definitely is the appropriate term."

"We might be here a while," said Sybil. Mary just continued to experience the ecstasy that was a simple apple from a college snack bar. I couldn't deny that her reaction was justified.

(/)

Earl was bored. Then again he was always bored. Manning a small gas station on the side of the Nevada freeway was boring work. On a good day he might get around twenty customers. Sometimes he'd get lucky and a trucker would come into the store while he was refueling his rig. Earl liked truckers, they always bought a ton of snacks and drinks and they always needed to completely refill their trucks. Plus, they liked to talk about their stories on the road. Earl liked hearing about the world beyond his small gas station.

As he sat behind the counter watching the empty freeway, he mused about the time a convoy had stopped at his station. It had been his best buisness day. Eight truckers, all with big rigs. They'd cleared him out. His gas station was small, so by the time the truckers left, Earl was down to his emergency reserves of gas. His food and drink supplies weren't faring much better. Earl didn't care, it was the most interaction he'd ever had on the job. It was almost like a party. He really did love that day.

There were no truckers today. Hell, there weren't **any** motorists today. But that happened a lot, so Earl just decided to sit back in his chair and read the paper. It was only eleven in the morning, but he still had a beer at his side.

Then he saw a speck in the distance. He perked up immediately, as the speck zoomed in closer it's shape became more defined: a simple SUV, probably a family on a road trip. Earl set the beer and paper down immediately. He still had a duty to look professional if there was a customer coming. Nothing scared away a customer like a fat man lazing about drinking a beer. Unfortunately, the SUV didn't look like it was stopping. In fact it looked like it was getting faster. Eighty-five, ninety-five, one hundred and five miles! The car was going way too fast. As it passed in front of the station it looked like it was about to hit the three hundred mile mark.

"Jeeesssuuussss Chrrrrrisssssstttt!" Earl exlaimed, then he got scared. Why had his voice sounded like it was in slow motion? He decided he might not be feeling well, so he decided to call up the hospital to send a truck to come get him. But as he moved toward the old wall phone, his actions, like his speech, were playing out in slow motion. "Whhhaaaaattttt tttthhheee fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

That was it for Earl and his store. They had run out of time.

**End Part One**


	3. Rising Sun, Falling Earth

**Saga One: Part 2**

Izumi Taka was getting tired of the bed. She was tired of the being sick, tired of having needles jabbed into her arms, and tired of the doctors examining her. She was tired of the life she'd wasted away sick in a bed. Then there was the thing she hated most of all: the white. The walls of the hospital, the bedsheets, the doctors' coats; they were all the color of death, yet it still hadn't come for her yet.

Izumi hated the reality she lived in. Whenever she wasn't in the hospital, she was at home. But even there, she couldn't escape the sounds of medicine. Her parents doted over her day and night, constantly checking her vital signs. If she ever actually felt well, her parents would actually become more concerned. She remembered each time she felt well, how she would ask her parents if she could go explore Tokyo's streets or go to a restaurant or something that didn't confine her to the house. Every time they had refused. "You're just getting better, you need to take it easy so you can fully heal. Then you can go to school and then college." She despised the smiles they gave her whenever they said that.

The odd thing was she didn't even hate the disease that was slowly eating her away. She didn't know it's actual name, but it had something to do with her blood. Instead of being a life source to her, her blood was a demon, slowly devouring the rest of her organs. Occasionally the demon would flare up, attacking a specific organ: sometimes a kidney would give out, or her liver would stop functioning, or her heart would get palpitations. Whatever the demon did, it always sent her back to the hospital. But she didn't hate the demon, she hated the way people treated her because of it.

The demon was evil and by extent she was evil. Her parents tried to show affection, but that was all it was: a show. She was a burden on them. She was a burden on all society. Her fate was inevitable: she'd one day be discarded and the demon exorcised from the world. Thus everyone kept their distance from her.

Everyone in reality at least. Izumi's most precious possession was her computer, more precisely its internet connection. Online she was free. Free to chat, free to see sights, free to exist. She never told her parents about the hundreds of chat rooms she visited or the thousands of anime and American cartoons she watched. If they found out, they'd take her only treasure away. They'd say it was bad for her health, that is should only be used for her education. She'd never let them take it. The internet was where her friends were, both the real ones from the chat rooms and the imaginary ones from the shows.

She'd never had any friends in reality. But when she'd first discovered the internet, she'd been happy to find friends in commercial mascots. She remembered the days when Hello Kitty and other cute mascots danced on the computer screen. But as she got older, she realized that was all they were: mascots for a company only meant to sell toys. After that realization she spent more time in chat rooms.

But recently she had discovered new friends. They had first popped up when someone talked about them in a chat room. They were from America, yet they were bright and colorful like Japanese mascots. Izumi thanked whatever god was responsible for language that she'd managed to learn English despite her sickness. A huge smile had crept onto her face the first time she'd heard the cartoon's theme song. She cried a little at the lyrics "did you know you're all my very best friends."

The world of Equestria was the reality she wanted. It was even grander than the internet. There everyone- no- everypony was friendly and caring. She'd cringed a little when she'd seen Rainbow Dash get sent to the hospital, but then was relieved when she saw that Dash's friends still cared about her. In that world, when you go to the hospital you still have friends. She looked around the private room she currently occupied. She was always in a private room. Her parents thought having her around others would make her sicker.

Her recent stay in the hospital had been her longest yet. Her blood demon had decided to attack her spinal column this time. She still remembered waking up and not being able to move, not being able to reach her computer or see her friends. That had been true torture, being alone was Izumi's worst nightmare. If it wasn't for the internet, that's what her life would be everyday; the thought sometimes kept her up at night. Being paralyzed had been the closest she'd come to that abyss. Luckily, the doctors had acted quickly and the demon had been quelled.

But not without a price. Izumi's nervous system was shutting down. In three months it would terminate and it would take her with it. She decided she'd spend the last three months with her friends. She had fantasies where she'd talk with Twilight or help raise animals with Fluttershy or go on awesome adventures with Rainbow Dash. She even wrote letters to the Princess, telling her how much she'd learned about friendship thanks to Celestia's little ponies. Izumi knew that one day the Princess would read them.

(/)

She awoke to the sound of her heart beating irregularly. The machines weren't going off though. Her chest was beginning to knot with pain as she reached for the emergency call switch. But she stopped. She saw that on the little desk next to her bed was a sake set with a letter next to it. She was still under the legal drinking age and there was no way her parents would ever let her drink anyway.

Despite the pain in her chest, she pulled herself over to the drink instead of the emergency button. She snatched up the letter and read it:

**Young One,**

**You have been selected to start the conversion process. We know this may be sudden to you, but time is of the essence. However, the choice is still yours as to whether you cast off your humanity or endure it. But know that both Equestria and Earth rest on your decision. So we ask you, whether you drink or not, to spread our word and reignite magic. There should be enough for four more converts. Please find the other seeds as soon as possible. We will try to contact you again soon.**

**By Royal Decree of Princess Celestia, Monarch of Equestria**

Izumi stared at the letter for a long time. Then she clutched it close to her throbbing chest. Her goddess had heard her prayers. She could finally escape the hospital, escape the demon. She was going to a better place.

She nervously poured the large jar's contents into the smaller sake cup. The fluid in it was thick and purple and it shimmered even in the darkened room. Izumi stopped just as the cup was about to overflow. The pain in her chest was growing and her limbs were starting to go numb. With the last of her strength, she downed the glass. "Ban...zai." She then fell into a sweet dreamy bliss.

(/)

Grass was nearby or at least the concept of grass was nearby. Wherever Izumi was now, it was certainly not the hospital. But it wasn't her dreamland of Equestria either. It felt more like she was in a land of ideas. Concepts existed without physical form in this bizarre realm. But Izumi didn't care about that. She was just overjoyed to even know the concept of grass; she had never known it before. But now she knew exactly what grass was like without even truly touching it. She was absolutely giddy to be in such an open space. The hospital- no- the city could never be this open.

But as she marveled at the splendor around her, a regal voice spoke up. Izumi looked up into the concept of a sky and saw a pulsating bright multi-hued sphere. It took up a good portion of the eastern horizon. The western horizon was also taken up by a sphere, but this one was more moon-like and encased in a blue aura. "_Young one_," The bright sphere called out. Izumi knew it could be only one entity. She shifted her essence as best she could to bow to her deity.

"_Great Celestia, you honor me with your presence._" She peeked an eye up to look at the moon-sphere. "_You as well, Princess Luna. How may I serve you?_"

"_A loyal one isn't she?_" Luna' commented.

"_Yes, but it is what we need now,_" Celestia's then turned her attention back to Izumi. "_Child, rise, you are not among rulers, but among those who require your assistance._"

"_Me? But I am just a tiny girl._"

"_No_," Luna replied, "y_ou are a pony now and with that choice, you have taken on a responsibility, both to our world and yours._"

"_What is it?_" There was concern in Izumi's voice now. If there was something that worried even the Princesses, it must have been a grave threat. Something threatened her heaven. She would stop it no matter the cost.

"_Your world needs magic and our world needs space,_" Celestia explained in a serious tone. "_More and more ponies come into being everyday and our reality can't contain them._"

"_The situation is even worse in your reality_," Luna took over for her sister. "_Your reality lacks a sufficient amount of magic to sustain itself._"

"_W-what does that mean?_" Something about the statement caused Izumi's essence to shiver.

"_Imagine the universe being held together by glue. That glue is magic. When that glue runs out it's the end._"

Now Izumi was scared. It wasn't an evil monster like Discord that she had to face, but a very law of nature. She had to defeat entropy. "_W-what can I do?_"

"_Child,_" Celetia's tone was now smooth and motherly, "_you have already taken the first step. But now you must be prepared to go further_." Izumi felt a jolt in her essence, like something was tugging at her. For a second she blanked out.

"_Sister!_" Luna cried out. "_She's fading! We must hurry!_" The tugging sensation was growing.

"_Child!_" Celestia called out to Izumi, "_Listen closely to my words. When you awaken you will be fully transformed. Guard the potion with your life! Convert others and build up as much magic as you can!_"

"_But how do I-_"

"_We don't have time to explain!_" Luna's voice was growing more distant. "_But what is most is important is that you find the others and make-_"

Izumi had left the concept plane.

(/)

A violent shaking woke her up. "Where is she?" A familiar voice yelled.

"Mother?" Izumi called out as the room started to come back into focus. She'd been having a wonderful dream. But the current situation was pushing it to the back of her mind. "What's wrong?" Her mother was never this emotional.

"You...you have her voice." Her mother stopped shacking her and backed away. There was a wild terror in her eyes.

Izumi was concerned now. The emotionless wretch her mother normally was was gone. Standing before her was a creature of feeling. A creature that wanted the daughter that was right in front of her. "Mother, what is wrong?" Izumi repeated.

"Stop it!" Her mother was beginning to cry. "Oh god, where's security!" She began to run to the door. She was about to open it when Izumi cried out.

"Stop!" She didn't want more doctors or security or any more of the horrible people. But much to her shock and her mother's, the door listened. Despite her mother clearly pulling the door open, it wouldn't budge. Her mother slowly turned around to look at Izumi again; her face was contorted in fear. Izumi then noticed that the door was covered in an electric blue aura. She also felt a tingling in her forehead, like someone was lightly shocking her. "Mother! Please tell me what's wrong?"

"D-d-don't hurt me!" Her mother was cowering in the corner. "J-j-just give me back my daughter!"

Now Izumi felt the urge to do something she'd never thought she'd do: comfort her mother. The cold woman was gone now and was replaced with a hysterical mess. _She needs my help._ She hopped down from the bed, but mid-jump she swore at herself. _The needles! This is gonna hurt! _She braced herself for the pain as she landed, but none came. She didn't even feel the IVs tugging at her. She glanced at where she felt her arm was but saw no arm.

Instead she saw an electric blue hoof, the same color as the aura that had surrounded the door. "No way." She tentatively brought the hoof up to her face and gazed at it. Then as a sensation of pure joy began to dawn on her, Izumi looked at her shadow. Under the artificial lights of the hospital room, her shadow was one of a four legged creature. The most unique feature of the shadow though was the protrusion that stuck out of its head.

_I...I'm a unicorn._ The thought was instantaneous in Izumi's head, but it took her a few seconds to process the idea. Then a huge grin crossed her face. She jumped up and shouted, "I'm a unicorn! I'm a pony! I'm free!" She began to ecstatically turn to her mother. "Mother, isn't this gre-" She stopped, her mother was now holding a scalpel and pointing it straight at her. "Mother, what are you doing?"

"Give. Me. Back. My. Daughter!" Her mother made a mad rush at her with the faux weapon. Izumi backed up but tripped on her legs, she wasn't fully used to her new body yet. The trip probably saved her life, as her mother proceeded to trip over her and went flying right into the wall. The scalpel bent backwards and cut a gash right at her wrist. She began to bleed profusely.

"Mother!" Izumi rushed over to her mother, instincts allowing her to control her legs. Here was a woman she had despised all her life for keeping her locked away and now that she was dying Izumi cared about her for the first time. "This isn't fair!" She cried. "I get better and care about you and now I'm going to lose you! Please sta-" her eyes spotted the sake jar. It was where she had left it - where the human Izumi had left it. It was the only way. "Mother, hold on, I'll fix you."

"Izumi, Izumi," her mother murmured as the life literally continued to drain from her.

"Ssh mother, it'll be ok." _Come._ The thought filled Izumi's mind as the jug and the cup flew over to her. She filled the cup again, a little spilled over but she didn't care. Her mother, in her semi-conscious state, was unable to resist swallowing the drink. Her mother was fully unconscious almost immediately. Then her body went white like porcelain. Despite being unconscious, her body squirmed as its shape began to change.

Izumi stared in amazement at the miracle that was happening before her eyes. This is what her savior had done to her as well and it was magnificent. Soon her mother wouldn't fear Izumi, she would love her, just as Izumi now loved her. The air in the room was ignited with magic as her mother's hands began bending into hooves. Her clothes were becoming ripped by the transformation as well.

_Ponies don't wear clothes anyway._ As that thought crossed her mind, Izumi looked over at where she'd been sleeping. Her hospital gown was still there, ripped to pieces by her metamorphosis. The needles were strung around the gown as well, her transformation had pushed them out of her skin.

She began to ponder what type of pony her mother would be, but then she heard footsteps. The commotion her mother had caused hadn't gone unnoticed. _Damn it! They'll be just as scared as mother was. We need to get out. _She looked out the one tiny window in the room and saw the lights of the city. It was a cloudy night so the moon wasn't shining and only the city's lights lit up the night. She could also see a little of her reflection: her long neon pink mane matched well with the night's lights. She looked over at her mother and the potion. The footsteps were getting closer. "It is time to go."

With that she poured all her thoughts into going to the city lights. To the land where people talked and interacted. It was one step closer to Equestria, one step closer to her dream. She'd make it a reality, she swore it to the Princess.

There was a bright flash and Izumi and the potion were gone.


End file.
